Dougal, Neil: Pacific Coast Congress 1986-04 ~ Praying To Him

Good afternoon. Now, the reading of the scripture today is found in the Gospel by John, chapter sixteen. I'm reading from verse twenty three to three. And in that day ye shall say, you'll ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, what so ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my. Ask and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full. These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs. But the time cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I, but I shall show you plainly of the Father. At that day ye shall ask in my name, and I say not unto you that I will pray the Father for you, for the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me and have believed that I am come out from God. Might kindly turn to another section, please, in the gospel by Luke. The eleventh chapter of Luke's gospel. I'm reading verse one. And it came to pass that as he was praying in a certain place, when he sees one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, when ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, as in heaven and so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves, for a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him. And he, and he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not, the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee, I say unto you, though he will not rise and give him because he's his friend, yet because of his importunity, he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. And I say unto you, ask, and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and he that knocketh, it shall be, and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened. If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? For if then ye being evil know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him. Again, the Lord will bless to us these readings from his precious word. Praying, eh, to him. Now, it is inevitable when we have subjects assigned to us that there will be a coverage, eh, in the ministry. So when Brother Graham yesterday spoke on the subject of prayer, I thought if it could be transcribed with a Scottish accent, then I could sit down this afternoon and have a rest. But anyway, that is not so. We will continue to look at this great subject of prayer. The essential nature of a Christian, of course, is to pray. And as we heard this morning, it must be done in reverence and also in admiration and awe. Here again, our Lord Jesus, co-equal and co-eternal with God, in reverential language, said, Father, Holy Father, and righteous Father. Prayer is the soul's sincere desire, uttered or unexpressed, the motion of a hidden fire that trembles in the breath. So we want to look at this subject with you, and first of all, we will look at prayer principle. Prayer principle. Secondly, prayer's priority. And then thirdly, we will look at this great subject, prayer's pattern. And then finally, prayer potential. Samuel said, God forbid that I should sin in ceasing to pray for you. If I fail to pray, God says it is a sin. God forbid that I should sin in ceasing to pray for you. Sin can be put into two categories. Number one, doing what I know to be wrong and not doing what I know to be right. James said in his priceless little epistle, to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Wherein then is prayerlessness a sin? Well, it's obvious that if we fail to pray, then the cross of Christ is being denied. Secondly, the church of God is being deprived. The cross of Christ is denied. The untested truth and the untrod path are a reality when we fail to utilize the channel of communication between us and our great Father. In the Old Testament, you remember, literally over Mount Sinai, you could write the word of God. Now, the writer to the Hebrews says, we have not come to Mount Sinai, to the mount that might be touched, that burned with fire, nor to darkness or tempest or to a fearing mediator. Even an animal coming near that holy mount had to be thrust through with a dove. So over Mount Sinai, the dispensation of law, you could write the words or the word depart. But the writer to the Hebrews says, we have come to Mount Zion, and over Mount Zion we can write the word, come. Depart the law, and under grace the invitation is to come. So the cross work of the Lord Jesus draws us near to God. And if we fail to pray, then this untested truth stands out like a monument. In the Epistle to the Hebrews, chapter four, the writer says there, we have not an high priest who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmity, but was in all points tempted, like as we are. Let us therefore come with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we might obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So if we fail to pray, then we are actually casting a reflection on the cross work of the law of Jesus. Because in chapter ten of the Hebrews, wherefore, brethren, having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by that new and living way which he had consecrated for us through the rent veil that is to see his flesh. That day by the Lord Jesus, and the moment he cried, it is finished, you remember the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom, and a new dispensation was inaugurated. Christian commencement, and in virtue of the cross work of the Lord Jesus, we ought to be a praying people. So if we fail to pray, God says, through Samuel, it is a sin. And the on- the untrod path is a reality. The price was paid, and if that path is seldom trod, then again we're casting a reflection on what the Lord did. Now the Lord says, when ye pray. That ought to be the norm of Christian experience, when ye pray. Not only is the cross of Christ denied, but the church of God is deprived. If we fail to pray, instead of, there is weakness instead of strength. So it's essential that we obtain this strength through the channel of prayer. If we fail to pray, there is lethargy instead of activity. And if we fail to pray, that is defeat instead of victory. The Church of Christ is the prize if we fail to pray. Weakness instead of strength. One occasion, Brother Boyd and I were invited to have a gospel effort in the, in the state of Michigan. These meetings have been planned for about two years, and when we got to the first prayer meeting, one man at the prayer meeting. But there he was on his bended knees, and like the seraphim which weighed, he covered his face, and the man was laying hold upon God when we got into that little chamber. One man. But at the end of the meetings, the final night, there were three prayer meetings going on. He had been stirred up through the gospel. We often wonder what would have been achieved if there had been three prayer meetings at the beginning. The Church of Christ is the prize. Come with me, please, over to the book of Jeremiah, chapter thirty three. I'm reading verse three. Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great things, great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. So here, through the prophet Jeremiah, we are encouraged to pray. We have prayer's origin. There has to be a specific need in the heart. Prayer or prayer's origin. And then there's prayer's objective. God says, call unto me and I will answer. And there is prayer's opportunity, great and mighty things. And surely we are a people that have a need in our hearts every day of our lives. And we should develop the need into prayer language, how the, the, the need of prayer in our hearts, and then to channel that need through in prayer to God. Now it's man's part to call, but it's God's part to answer. Call unto me, and I will answer. And do great and mighty things. Notice, friend, the certainty of it. God says, I will answer. And we have the comfort of it. It's God that answers the prayer. And the climax, great and mighty things, beyond our expectations. Just three months after open heart surgery, I'd cancelled out every engagement except going to a conference at Man O' War, and then the following week out here to Mount Hermon. As we thought of going to the Bahamas against the doctor's orders, really, he thought it was a little unwise, no hospital down there, but he saw I was disappointed, and he suggested that I go, provided, as he said, that I would look after myself. But we thought of the luggage, and I often say to my wife, jokingly, if the children of Israel carried the same luggage as the Dougal's, they would never have reached the promised land. You try to travel light, but in our work, that seems almost to be an impossibility. And so, with this sternum bone aching, we got down to the A- Logan Airport in Boston. And I looked at the suitcases before we left. My son put them in the car, and then he put them aboard the Delta flight. We got to Nassau, and people milling around by the hundreds looking for the luggage. Couldn't get no porter, nobody to assist us. And I see this long line on the, on the customs department, when suddenly a voice hollered, Neil. Right in the customs department, the biggest pharmacy agent in the Bahamas, Billy Law, was there with a black gentleman, the chief customs officer with four gold rings. He picked up the suitcases, the two of them. The customs officer, chief customs officer, waved to his men, and out they went with our suitcases. The governor of the small island of Manawor, he had arranged a special charter, and outside was a plane, and they put the luggage on the plane. It was an anxiety to us as we left home. The plane took off, and we landed in Marsh Harbour. There a sister was there with a large beach wagon. She picked up the luggage, put them in the car, and down to the waterfront. And there was a million dollar yacht belonging to Mr. Fisher of Pittsburgh, and we were conducted over to Manawwar Key in a million dollar yacht. By the time we got there, the saints were all lined up, and I felt in the Queen of Sheba there was no more spirit left in me. We never touched a suitcase from the left booster to do great and mighty things beyond our expectation. He is a benevolent and a beneficent God, willing to bestow upon his dear children what is good for them. Prayer's principle, if we fail to pray, God says it is a sin. Now let's move over quickly to prayer's priority. Just a few verses, please, in Paul's, uh, first epistle to Timothy. First Timothy, chapter two, chapter two and verse one. I exhort therefore that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercession, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and for all that are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time. Paul's telling young Timothy that the number one priority of the Christian is to pray. Now we have schools for preaching, and we have schools for singing. But where do we find schools for praying? Maybe we should think this thing out seriously. When the disciples learned their inadequacy, when they heard him pray, Lord, teach us how to pray, as John taught his disciples. Now, we can't all be preachers, and we can't all be missionaries, but we can all pray. This is the Christian's native breath. And so Paul would remind this young preacher, this young teacher of the Word of God, and us, that the first priority in our Christian life is to pray. Now, Saul of Tarsus began his Christian life by praying. Behold, he prays was the first action by Saul of Tarsus when he came to Christ. And he was a man of prayer throughout his life. So he says to young Timothy and to us, I exhort therefore that first of all, supplication and intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men. Now that would include Gorbachev as well as President Reagan. Isn't that right? All men. Collective prayer is so vital, and it is the seat of our strength. All men. And this message, we see, was also with a view for kings and for all that are in authority. We must have this tremendous scope in our prayer life, be intelligent what is going on in the world, and to pray for all men. And so collective prayer in this section is dealing, first of all, with the will of God, and then it's seen in relation to the work of God, and thirdly, as a witness for God. What is the will of God? For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who would have all men. Notice the language. Who would have all men. Not some men, but who would have all men to be saved. Now, if the all men apply to all men regarding kings and those that are in authority, surely the all there is also all-embracing. For all men. That is the will of God, that all men should be saved. He willeth not the death of any, but that all should come unto him and live. God's first dialogue, or his dialogue with Cain. Cain was following a course away from God. Seven distinct steps of Cain, and so we are how referred to as the way of Cain. Did God not intend that Cain should be saved? He came after Cain. Cain, you're going the wrong way. But if thou doest well, shall thou not be accepted? A sin offering is lying at your door. It's the will of God that all men should ascend. And he mentions something about the work of God. For there is one God and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for some, who gave himself a ransom for all. That word all is so all-embrated. And I believe that the blood of our blessed Lord, that we heard about this morning has the capability of saving all men who are willing to respond and appeal to him on the principle of faith. We had a dear friend in the north of Ireland, his name is Samuel Jardine. Spent twenty one years in a church, and his father was the best known Baptist minister in the north of Ireland. One day, a man came by recommendation to s- to take over for one meeting the pulpit. And he made a few remarks, and it was very evident that old Mr. Jardine began to smell something. He said, Sir, excuse me, do I detect baptismal regeneration in your message? He said, yes. Well, he said, sir, when you're packing your Bible case, the, the, the, the pianist on the assemblage will sing, there is a fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. He packed his bag and was gone. How precious is the blood of the Lord Jesus. I noticed not only the will of God and the work of God, but it was a witness for God, testify in due time. So collective prayer is indeed so vital for us as the people of God, and if we fail to pray, God says it's sin. Not only collective prayer, but in chapter five, he makes reference to praying for food at home. In the city of Boston, a very dear friend, eh, used to love when his grandchildren came to visit him, little lad of five years of age, and the folks upstairs in the apartment really took to this little fellow, and they invited him up for dinner one night. And they all started to, eh, get the food and on their plates, and this is this little five-year-old boy says, does nobody pray around here? And they were absolutely overwhelmed, and the little fellow, five years of age, thanked the the Lord for the food on the table. Wonderful to bring children up in an atmosphere of prayer, praying for food. Sometimes children can really get to you with a prayer. I read in a monthly magazine of a boy who was praying for everything at night before he went to bed, and he seemed to stop when he started up again, and he says, Lord, please look after yourself. If anything happens to you, we're sunk. Yes. Yes. Childlike sympathies. God loves to answer the prayers even of children. And he prayed for the widows, prayer for the destitute widows, and also prayer for Timothy, his son in the faith, night and day. He mentioned supplication first of all, supplication. Supplication is a man on his face. You remember our beloved Savior was prostrate in the garden on his face. And dear Daniel, as he was in his prayer chamber, they observed that he was a man of prayer, and they went to the king. This Daniel, we found him supplicating his God, a man on his faith. Supplication, intercession is a man with uplifted hands. You remember in the battle with Amalek in Exodus chapter seventeen, as long as the hands of Moses were raised up, Israel prevailed. When they dropped down, Amalek prevailed. But Aaron and Hur took Moses' hands and held them up, and Amalek was destroyed. A man on his face. Four years ago, we went down to Spanish Wells in the Bahamas. A dear brother, one of the greatest men I ever met in my life, and he was dying with cancer, skin and bone, the esophagus burning. He said to his wife, Judith, bring me a glass of water. Sitting in front of him were two boys on hard drugs. He took the glass of water, he says, boys, not one drop of this in hell. That's all he said. That night Aziel Pinder died. Next morning I was preaching from the verse, whatsoever he says unto you, do it. He demands conversion. And the first man of the twenty seven we saw saved in that month came up and says, whatsoever he says unto you, do it. And the land came to Christ. The last night, speaking from a verse from the book of Zephaniah, the Lord is at hand. A fisherman came to every meeting, and that was the quotation in the calendar yesterday. I went to see him, I said, we're leaving tomorrow morning. His name was Charles Curtis, an infidel. I said, Charles, if the Lord comes back tonight, your wife Alice will be gone. Your daughter Jo- Janice will be gone, I'll be gone, but you'll be left behind. He got off his chair and threw himself flat out on his face, and he wailed, oh God, save my soul. We were down the street, and he knocked on door after door. I'm now the child of a king. I'm now the child of a king. And at midnight, we were singing outside the chapel in Spanish Wells. Oh, happy day when Jesus washed my sins away. Next morning, six thirty, we had a prayer meeting. We were leaving at eight. And who comes into this prayer meeting but Charles Curry, with his wife's Bible under his arm. We all pray, and then he prayed. He says, Lord, I don't know too much about this praying business. It's new to me, but I'm going to pray anyway. And he began to pray for his brother. His nickname was Hitler. First time I went to Spanish Wells to pray for Churchill, that's all right, but then Hitler, I thought, well, the next one will be either Stalin or FDR. Then he fell apart, and he prayed for his son Nigel, that God might save his boy. His nickname was Chicken. So I said to the elders after the meeting, please change his nickname from Chicken to Eagle. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles, run and not be weary. I sense that he would become a man of prayer. A year later, Jim Boswell, known to some, said, I wish you could hear him pray. He said he prays like an archangel. Two years later, we went back. He had cancer of the lung. He says, brother Neil, with this thing I could lose everything, but one thing I cannot lose is my savior. 3 weeks later, he took a relax back in the hospital in Miami, and the night he died, he got word from Spanish well that his son Nigel had just gotten saved. His prayer was answered. Lying on his face, oh God, save my soul. Intercession, uplifted hands, and he mentioned thanksgiving. That is a man sitting before the Lord with an overflowed cup. My cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. The Bible tells us, as we heard the other night, pray without ceasing, in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. And Paul to the Ephesians and Dr. Harry Anside says it's part of the spiritual armor, put on the whole armor of God, and finishes up with praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit. The prayer is part of the panoply, the equipment of the real soldier. Visitors to the galley, or rather visitors to St. Paul's Cathedral in London, England. It's, uh, an amazing structure, and that round dome, a a whisper can really travel right round that dome. And in that particular area, a gentleman was listening to a conversation away round the door, and he heard soft, and he looked on with interest, and then he heard this shoemaker saying to his fiancée he was too poor, and therefore he could not afford to marry her. This distinguished gentleman who heard the conversation followed this shoemaker out of St. Paul's Cathedral, down the street, and into his little store. He took a note of the location and the number of the street. Next day, a large shipment of leather arrived. The young shoemaker became prosperous and eventually married his fiancé. The distinguished gentleman who had the conversation round the door was the great godly British Prime Minister William Gladstone. If he could be so touched with that solemn situation, the agony, how much more our Heavenly Father, whose interest in us is absolutely supreme. David Livingstone, he knew what priority in prayer was all about, and David Livingstone died on his knees in Africa. The great Robert Murray McCheyne I mentioned the other night, that great Scottish revivalist who died at the age of twenty eight years of age, in his church in Dundee, Scotland, thirty nine prayer meetings going on in one week. Five included children. No wonder Scotland was rocked with revival. Thirty nine prayer meetings in one church in one week. Prayer's priority. Moving on now to this section in Luke's Gospel, chapter eleven. We have prayer's pattern. Prayer's principle, we have to pray, otherwise we sin. Prayer's priority, prayer's pattern. Lord, teach us how to pray. My brother Graham very beautifully brought before us the other day. The Lord Jesus Christ is the man of prayer, always dependent and always praying. At his baptism, in the wilderness, on the Mount of Transfiguration, and even on the cross, in agonies and blood. Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. The man of prayer. Then, in his instruction to the disciples, he gives them matters for prayer. He suggests to them the upward look, and then the inward look. This is a pattern prayer, and we would do well to observe again the reverence and the awe. The upward look. Our Father, which art in heaven. Oh, to cultivate a reverence, as we heard this morning, as we approach our Heavenly Father. Only a child of God can look up, and as we heard, our fellowship is with the Father. I'm but a stranger here. Heaven is my home. Earth is a desert rear. Heaven is my home. Danger and sorrow stand round me on every hand. Heaven is my fatherland. Heaven is my home. Let's look up. The upward look. Prayer should be occupied, he says here, with three things. A passion prayer, the name, thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth. This embraces the holiness of God. Thy name. Oh, let us never forget that when we enter into the royal court, holiness becometh thy house, O God, forever. We are treading on heavenly ground when we enter into this atmosphere of prayer. Thy name, the all-prevailing name. Thy kingdom, not only the holiness of God, but the honor of Christ. Thy kingdom. God should have set my king upon my holy hill of Zion, and the kingdom of God is not marked by geographic location or by ecclesiastical form, but the kingdom of God is in you, says the Lord. The moment we accept him, the kingdom of God is within you. The honor of Christ. And thy will be done. Surely that is the hope of the church. So this pattern prayer, in essence, heavenly things and spiritual things take precedence over physical and mundane. That should be the basis for our approach. It's a spiritual experience. It is a spiritual exercise, the upward look. And then he goes and relates to them the inward look, and forgive us our sins. Now, for the sinner, sin is the rule, but for the saint, it ought to be the exception to the rule. If any man say he has not sinned, he deceives himself, and the truth is not in him. But if we confess our sin, as we heard today, if we confess our sin, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And David's great penitential sermon, he says, I acknowledge my sin unto the Lord, and he forgave me of my transgressions. I hid not my sin, and David confessed that to God. He made known to him the physical and spiritual disaster that had overcome him. I will confess my transgression unto the Lord, and that forgave it of my iniquity. The record was white clean. You don't find anything in the New Testament of David's failure, how he, down in Gath, when he pretended insanity, there's no record of that conduct in the New Testament. His sin with Baashima and the awful aiding and abetting in the murder of Uriah the Hittite. There's no mention of him in his pride numbering the nation without the half shekel of the sanctuary. There's no record of his dealings in weakness with his family. But as Paul stood up and gave that great dress, that great address at Caesarea Philippi, he says David was a man after God's own heart. And God put him in amongst that galaxy of stalwarts in Hebrews chapter eleven. Would you put David there? But God put him there. Would you put Samson there? Time would fail to tear up David, Gideon, and Barak, and Samson. Our God is a God of forgiveness. Forgive us our sins, just to look in to see what we really are. And surely in a day of self-esteem and self-expression that we hear everywhere, let's get down to how Paul reacted. Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? What things were gained to me, those I count about loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I do count all things but refuge, that he might gain Christ. Looking in, only by the grace of God, we are what we are. The upward look, the inward look, and then the onward look. Deliver us from evil. We are delivered, common theology, from the penalty of our sin, and we are being delivered day by day from the power of sin, and soon, when he comes, we shall be delivered from the very presence of sin. And the Lord gives an illustration here in chapter eleven about a friend who has great provision, and surely that friend is God. God has tremendous provision. And the, a friend comes in the dark hour of life on his journey, the second friend. This surely is a picture of a man who's lost his way. And sad to say, this man had no nothing to give his friend who had gone astray. But he keeps in his importunity after the train number one, and it certainly was most rewarding. We must keep on. Importunity in prayer. He mentions midnight. That's the time when we normally are in bed, but sometimes it is essential that we are on our knees. Brother Boyd and I had meetings in Toronto some years ago, and God was moving, souls are being saved. I had an, an, a knee, uh, rather a cousin who had backslid, and God restored her, and her husband got saved. And we had large prayer meetings before and after each meeting for six weeks. And this gentleman just saved one day. The next night we were dealing with souls, and they'd all prayed, and they were coming up the stairs, and this gentleman saved one day, pushed them back down. He says, more prayer. He was an Englishman. More prayer, more prayer. Say one day. ninety years of age. And he said, she calls Boyd and I her spiritual twin. She prays for us three times a day. And she says to her sister, Betty, these boys are still at it. Let's get down to prayer. And at three o'clock in the morning, she wakens her sister up, she says, Betty, there are people going to hell, and we're lying here in bed. Let's get out of bed and get down to prayer. Her sister said her knees were sore getting down to pray. Importunity in prayer. Prayer pattern, finally. The Lord says and uses three illustrations: ask, seek, and not. Ask, seek, and knock. Asking would imply dependence, seeking would imply aim, and knocking direction and opportunity. And because of his persistence, then he was rewarded and the provision was given. God will always honor importunity, persistence in prayer. Some years ago, in the city of Detroit, I had the joy of pointing a woman to Christ in the hospital, and eh, we went back for meetings, and eh, we thought about her husband. Well, he was a Scotsman, and he was an old rascal. He had more time to think about his television than our television did several than in the things of God. So we went to visit him, and we told him what God said. Ye must be born again. Well, he almost threw brother Boyd and I at the hat. He was so infuriated, he said, I'm a good man, I'm a good man, I'm a good man. Well, what am I to him? God said we're all bad men. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The next day we went back to face the lion in his den. But before, we had a session of prayer. We got to the door, and to our amazement, he says, come on in, boy. Well, if I remember correctly, boy looked up behind the door to see there was some guided missiles. Come on in, boy. You see, prayer was beginning to act, and the results were inevitable. Then he told us a story. He said, you boys are preachers, maybe you would like to use a story. Go ahead, Uncle Jimmy. So he told us about a man sitting in a railroad station. Along came the conductor. He said, sir, I'm sorry, you're in the wrong train. That's your train over there. Well, he picked up his case, went across to the second. Along comes the conductor, he says, sir, you're in the wrong train, that's your train over there. And he's getting more confused. So he goes back into train number one, and a voice said, as the man came down, he said, I told you you're in the wrong train. A voice said, sir, and if you're not born again, you're on a hellbound train, and that's the wrong train. End of story. Boy, said Uncle Jimmy, don't you realize, man, you're the man in this story. You're the man that's on the wrong train. Yeah, yeah, he said, you're right. So I had to give him a hit in the ribs to see if he was for real. When should you get off the train? He says, right now. You rose from the divan where I was sitting, but the boy was across the way, and he went under a painting on the wall. It was a fall scene. An old man in a park bench, his head bowed, and obviously praying. He got under that painting, and he said, oh God, forgive me of my folly. Yesterday he was talking about being a good man. Forgive me of my folly and take over my life. We suggested to him to go round and see someone who was very interested in him, his sister. Well, it took a long time to come out of the bedroom, but he had his suit of clothes on, he was all spruced up. He hated preachers, and there he was sitting between us, smiling from ear to ear. We got into his sister's home, old Aunt Sarah Malloy, and she threw her arms around him. She came across the, the room on her old shaky legs. She put her arms around him. Uncle, she said, Brother Jimmy, you're saved at last. I prayed for you for over seventy years. Infortunity. That perseverance was a reality, and God blessed her in her exercise. He went back to see him sometime later, he's an old Scotsman. He says, a wonderful thing to have the Lord in your hip and know where you're going when you do. Well, I better explain that to Brother Graham. It's a wonderful thing to have the Lord in your heart and know where you're going when you die. Prayer. Finally, time is gone. We have prayer's potential. Prayer's principle. Prayer's priority. Prayer's pattern, prayer's potential. It is absolutely unlimited. Endless resources belong to our great God. Abraham, you remember, was on the mountain in Genesis nineteen, and he's praying for the pers- the preservation, rather, the preservation of the city. Five times he prays to God in relation to Lot and those in the twin cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Moses prayed for victory over the enemy. Samson prayed for strength as he faced death. Hannah prayed for a man child. And Habakkuk, he prayed for revival. Men are always to pray and not to faint. Oh, that we indeed, as a result of these days together, I must confess, this is the thing that I have to make an adjustment in my life from time to time. We become so busy, the first thing that goes is our prayer time, and I'm speaking as a preacher. This ought not to be. Prayer, says Paul, is the number one priority. The Lord help us. Lord, teach us how to pray. Shall we pray? Father, we thank thee for these days spent together for the ministry of thy precious word. We feel so inadequate, Father, dealing with such a subject, but we thank thee again that we know that this is the Christian's native breath. Help us, our Father, to use this channel to come boldly to the throne of grace and to enter into the holiest, ever remembering the cost of that avenue, that access, was the precious blood of the Lord Jesus that was shed at Calvary. As we continue in these days together, we pray again that thou shall give us and bless us abundantly. We thank thee for this special divine visitation that we've had in the fellowship, in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.